College tours might be the next experience to go digital.
CollegeClickTV.com boasts more than 30,000 video reviews of more than 200 college campuses, offering high school students an alternative to the statistics of other college websites or even college tours, founder Glenn Pere said. Boston University has 34 video reviews.
‘It’s an opportunity to visit the school and get a full 360 degree view about the school,’ Pere said. ‘We want to give high school students the point of view that they can’t get from guidance counselors or from college advisors.’
Founded last September, tens of thousands of students have joined the database, Pere said.
The website has a group of videographers and editors that enjoy full access to film students, staff and faculty on campuses, he said.
‘Schools contact us and tell us they want to be on the site,’ Pere said.
At schools like BU, that enroll students from more than 100 countries, it is often difficult to physically tour a campus before matriculation.
Marshall Schurtz, a senior at Westlake High School in Westlake Village, Calif., said he watched CollegeClickTV’s videos on YouTube before applying early decision to BU’s archaeology program.
‘They were nice to look at because they give you an idea of BU that you wouldn’t have known from the website,’ Schurtz said. ‘They helped me in double checking my decision.’
The videos also presented insights into the academics, Schurtz said.’I now know about the grade deflation, so I can accept that,’ he said.
During the economic recession, the website offers a money-saving substitute to college visits and expensive airfare, Pere said.
‘You don’t need to financially go through all these schools when you’re just going to one of them,’ Pere said.
American International School of Kuwait senior Kareem Chehayeb, who said BU has been her choice college since sophomore year of high school, said CollegeClickTV could assist foreign students to make the right decision when selecting colleges.
‘I [like] the fact that it shows beyond statistics and shows the real atmosphere of the university and the town or city it is in,’ Chehayeb said.
Leanne Hoppe, a senior at Christian Central Academy in Williamsville, N.Y., said the videos can help students learn about the social life at a distant college. Hoppe applied early decision to BU and plans to major in sociobiology.
‘I watched one about this dance party,’ Leanne said. ‘If you can’t get up to look at the school, it’s cool to just show what it is like in Boston.’
Bethany Reynolds, a senior at Shorewood High School in Shorewood, Wis., said the website did not influence her decision to apply to BU early decision, but it did illustrate the many options the school has to offer.
‘I want to go into communications and I want to study with a lot of stuff going on,’ Reynolds said, noting that because BU offers so many academic options, she could easily pick up a different concentration if she changed her mind.
‘The worst thing is to get culture shock when you get to school,’ Pere said.
